citydesk

Aventis to Pay Idaho $800K in Drug-Pricing Settlement

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to pay $828,500 to the State of Idaho to resolve claims of excessive prices that Idaho Medicaid paid for prescription drugs. The settlement is the latest recovery in a string a lawsuits that Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden launched against several prescription drug manufacturers, including Aventis.

For example, one unit of Aventis’ pharmaceutical product Allegra had a published average wholesale price of $2.44 in 2003, said Wasden. "But the investigation revealed an actual average wholesale price of $1.937 in that year. This results in a 26 percent difference between the published price and the actual price.”

Nearly $200,000 is expected to be deposited into Idaho's General Fund, nearly $500,000 is to be sent to the Cooperative Welfare Fund to reimburse the federal Medicaid share, and $50,000 will be earmarked to reimbuse the investigative and legal costs.

Sanofi-Adventis admitted no liability or wrongdoing in the settlement.